I recently had the pleasure of touring Romania with Serban Riga Fereu, and I wanted to share my appreciation. The trip was fantastic, and Serban's knowledge of the country was impressive. He shared many interesting facts that made the experience very enriching. His sense of humor also added a lot of fun to the tour. Overall, it was an excellent experience, and I highly recommend Serban as a guide. Thank you for making our trip so memorable! Anna 17.08.2024

This ended up being a private tour with Serban as our guide. Serban is a very proud Romanian with a wealth of knowledge who along with his humour made this tour very enjoyable. We were lucky to have both places virtually to ourselves. Would highly recommend. Thank you Serban 😊

Be sure to add an extra few days when visiting Bucharest to visit the countryside. The 3 day tour includes the Bram and Peles Castles which people often take in a one day tour. The extra days driving over the Carpathian Mts. and stopping in 3 lovely towns, 2 overnights had us all chanting, "we love Romania!"! This country is very rich in history. Seeing the bears by the side of the road was amazing too though people shouldn't be feeding them. We had a delightful tour with our guide, Serben, from TravelMaker. He was funny and had a lot of historical knowledge. He was able to anticipate crowds and adjust our schedule so we could avoid the worst tourist bottlenecks. The website had all the info about bringing a certain amount of local currency which we needed for tickets to the Peles Castle, suggested tip, tipping in general etc. My only suggestion is to understand the acommodations better. Maybe a link to the hotels could be sent beforehand. The last hotel was in a fabulous location right at the town square, but no elevator. Serben was great carrying bags up stairs and the next morning the hotel had staff to help. We were a group of 9 older travelers. The driver, Floin, for the van was very professional oal and managed the mountain switchbacks and crowded areas with skill.

As soon as we started, the guide named Serban informed us that it was necessary to bring cash when in the end the tickets could be obtained online. After this the day began with the worst guide I have had throughout many years of travel. His misogynistic comments about the time women need to go to the bathroom, his lack of knowledge repeating and giving very little historical information. In Brasov he gave us a ten-minute guided walk without even telling us what to see. But the disastrous end was yet to come. Although Serban had been saying all day how well he was doing, I imagine it was so that he could be tipped, which was later confirmed. All day they were taking secondary roads supposedly to save time. On the way back they took us through some mountain roads with so many curves and at such high speed that we were all dizzy when the time saved according to Google Maps was two minutes. Honestly do not recommend that rude guide, who only wants to charge a tip and have good comments left. Well there goes mine. The castles and the city are worth it but with a different agency.

I wish I could say this was great, but I came back from this trip very tense and anxious. The sites were very crowded and no accommodations were made for groups. While we waited, people constantly cut in line in front of us. We couldn’t see anything in the castles because of the crowds. There were three men from South America who came on the trip sick. The guide allowed them on the bus even though one was wet with fever and coughing. The others had terrible mucus cough and I am sure we will all end up with COVID on our vacation. We were rushed the entire time. When we arrived at Bresov after a day of not eating, we were told to find a place that would serve us within 20 minutes. No recommendations. While the guide had gone on about the wonderful Romanian food, we had bar food because that’s all that could be prepared in the allotted time. The bus stairs were poorly marked and I injured my knee leaving the bus. We are experienced travelers and have take day trips throughout Europe and South America. While each had their challenges, the experience was good. This was the worst. It was a total waste of money and time. All I came away with was an injury and illness. The guide was very nice, but somewhat defensive about her country. It’s a beautiful place. Nothing to be defensive about.

I had an exceptional tour guide who was incredibly knowledgeable, kind, and passionate about his work. He provided fascinating insights into the country's history, making the experience informative and enjoyable. I wholeheartedly recommend this trip to anyone interested in learning and exploring Romania!

Great small group tour. Excellent guide (Ioana). She really knows how to be a tour guide. The mini-bus was comfortable. The castles were too busy (probably the pick of the holiday period), but nevertheless the tour was worthwhile.

Joe, the tour guide, was full of Romanian knowledge. During the bus rides she shared all kinds of interesting stories from Romania’s unique history.

Tour guide was sarcastic, I had to beg for WC stop. He was not friendly, actually not liking his job. Hope he can find a job he likes.

Extended 3 days in Bucharest after a cruise, and booked a local tour agency known as TravelMaker. It turned out to be a lucky blind pick. The owner himself, Dan Penciu, arranged 3 tours for us---Inside the Parliament, world's largest building; walking and dining in Bucharest's Historic Quarter, and a day trip to Transylvania and Dracula's Castle. Dan led us on the Parliament tour, and although he's been there numerous times, seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Sometimes it's best to stick to a local tour agency than an international one.

Fun, informative, engaging. Pickup directly from the hotel. Small group in a comfortable minibus. Day well spent! Great day trip from Bucharest! Marcus and Peter did a great job!

Our guide Serban has taken us on an immersive tour of the most important sites surrounding Bucharest. Serban’s knowledge and unwavering unthusiasm go hand in hand with his professionalism and guidance experience. The trip was very well organised in a correct, and at the same time, fun way!

Don't waste your time, to be told to arrive 10mintues earlier than pick up time then having to wait around because they are late so waiting around in 30°+ heat for half an hour wasn't the best start, got onto the bus I can't fault the places you see they are beautiful, but the tour guide (narcis) was rude at times & spoke to you like a child, had favourites on the tour witch he then allowed things for them if asked but no for others, felt very rushed looking around and not a friendly manner, multiple times through out the tour he said things witch were abrupt and rude not only to the tour group but other visitors within the castle telling them to move on they aren't he's tour guide and if they wanted to stay would have to pay him, it's his tone and manner, on the journey back there was bad traffic which then they turned around an went another way which meant more time was added which is and understanding these things happen but!!! When we stopped for a break before we got off he said take along as you want!!!! Well that was not the case I didn't even get 10 minutes off the bus, went to the restroom then went to go for a quick cigarette this is when narsit became rude!!! Telling us everyone was waiting,( other people still standing outside the bus not even on) being quite aggressive with his tone and patronising, just kept saying everyone is waiting and we needed to leave i said I had been off the bus only for a toilet again still rude, bearing in mind all the meet up times throughout the tour we were always at the meeting point on-time others weren't so had to wait around for them, again had favourites on the tour that things were okay for them, and throughout the tour me and my friend was always back before the meeting time and had to wait for others. Aslo I always tip the guide on tours so even after tipping you still get spoken to in rude manner, unprofessional & rude, wouldn't recommend The driver was quiet and polite.

Would not recommend this company. The tour guide (Narcis) was extremely rude throughout the entire experience, telling other people in the castles to move on because he wasn’t their tour guide unless they wanted to pay extra to listen to him. He was rude to multiple people in our group for not keeping up or arriving back to the meet point a few minutes late. The icing on the cake was the drive back to Bucharest is supposed to be 3 hours, we were in standstill traffic so they decided to detour which meant we were now 1 hour 30 minutes behind. When we stopped at the gas station he said to “take as much time as you need” me and my friend wanted to quickly have a cigarette before we got back on the bus after using the toilets and Narcis became extremely argumentative, wouldn’t let us have a cigarette and told us that everyone was waiting for us. We hadn’t even been off the bus 5 minutes. He also wouldn’t listen when we told him that we waited for others and we even had to wait for him because he was late to pick us up that morning. He didn’t care. I didn’t appreciate the attitude, we’d been extremely polite and on time all day. 4.5+ hours travel and not even allowed to have a quick smoke. Avoid.

Tiberius is fantastic! He’s a knowledgeable historian, very friendly, and helped us navigate interesting sites around Bucharest. He’s multilingual and his English is fantastic. When I return to Bucharest I would not hesitate to call Travel Maker and request Tiberius.